The curious case of Rohit Sharma

What’s Rohit Sharma’s future in Test cricket?

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Feature

It has been more than ten years because Rohit Sharma left his international debut for India. His gift was on display in the World T20 held in South Africa. He had been viewed as the next huge factor in Indian cricket.

But has he lived up to expectations?

After his debut in 2007, Sharma was in and out of the ODI side. He failed to find a place in the squad to the 2011 World Cup, which India finally acquired. Then-captain MS Dhoni was frequently blamed for giving Rohit Sharma too many opportunities. Even though he played with impressive innings during this period of time, people understood he was not doing justice to his talent.

Then came the Champions Trophy in 2013. India were seeking to proceed from Sehwag and Gambhir, and thus considering other launching batting mixes.

In a sudden move, Rohit Sharma had been requested to open with Shikhar Dhawan. And this proved to be the turning point in Rohit’s career. He grabbed this chance with both hands left the position his own, proving critics wrong.

Ever since then he hasn’t played at any position in the batting order and we have seen some wonderful innings from him especially playing at home.

Unfortunately, Rohit’s Test career hasn’t been the same. Picked in 2013 for a home series against West Indies, Sharma has had a very unstable career to date and has played with just 25 games in the span of five decades. Even though he averages almost 40 in Test cricket he still hasn’t been in a position to make runs for your group when needed to most. Most of his runs are in subcontinent states and against teams.

He’s struggled overseas, particularly in Tests, and also questions have frequently been raised about his position in the group. He’s been fighting for a place in the playing XI from the likes of Pujara and Rahane, who are considered technically superior for him. But still, selectors and team management have placed their money for him in Test cricket.

And to be honest, they can’t be blamed.

Rohit in total flow is really a sight worth watching. He’s played some of the very eloquent and superlative knocks in ODI cricket (such as three dual hundreds), and any team management could be tempted to see if he can create the exact effects in Test cricket too. But is it time to create a final call?

There have been obvious flaws in Rohit’s strategy and temperament in regards to red ball cricket. He’s guilty of poor shot selection and being idle with his footwork. The current team management believe that Rohit can choose the match away in the resistance in 1 session, but these chances are uncommon in Test cricket when you have to quicken and put runs on the board in rapid time. Test cricket is not all about flamboyance, it’s all about nature.

It is high time the selectors take a final call on Rohit Sharma. Are they prepared to spend more time around Rohit Sharma or are they willing to accept the fact that Rohit Sharma is one of these players who have an excellent ODI career but aren’t able to interpret it into Test cricket? The odds are definitely against Rohit in this stage, but we never understand, he might prove us wrong once more.